Ralph Reichmann

When it comes to odd couples, Paul Reichmann, the low-key and deliberate financial wizard whose family controls Olympia & York Developments Ltd., is about as far away as you can get from the flamboyant and adventurous Robert Campeau. "One is pure logic and one is pure emotion," said a Toronto stock analyst who follows Campeau Corp.

The bankruptcy filing by Olympia & York might well keep alive the world's largest real estate company, but it represents a once-unthinkable descent for one of the most mysterious and successful business enterprises of modern times. The Reichmann brothers, Paul, Ralph and Albert, offspring of World War II refugees from Europe who settled here in the 1950s, turned a small family tile-importing business into a huge, privately held empire in real estate, oil and timber once valued at $31 billion.

The bankruptcy filing by Olympia & York might well keep alive the world's largest real estate company, but it represents a once-unthinkable descent for one of the most mysterious and successful business enterprises of modern times. The Reichmann brothers, Paul, Ralph and Albert, offspring of World War II refugees from Europe who settled here in the 1950s, turned a small family tile-importing business into a huge, privately held empire in real estate, oil and timber once valued at $31 billion.

When it comes to odd couples, Paul Reichmann, the low-key and deliberate financial wizard whose family controls Olympia & York Developments Ltd., is about as far away as you can get from the flamboyant and adventurous Robert Campeau. "One is pure logic and one is pure emotion," said a Toronto stock analyst who follows Campeau Corp.

A Japanese real estate tycoon has edged out a fellow countryman for the title of world's richest person, but the United States is still home to more billionaires than any other country, Forbes magazine says. Taikichiro Mori, 87, whose Tokyo real estate holdings are worth about $15 billion, beat out Seibu Railway magnate Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, 57, who had topped the magazine's annual list for four years.